Profit Taking May Dent South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after it had ended the two-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 220 points or 14 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 1,715-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on coronavirus concerns, with profit taking expected following recent sessions of stimulus-generated buying. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in the red.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index jumped 31.49 points or 1.87 percent to finish at 1,717.73 after trading between 1,668.21 and 1,759.05. Volume was 1 billion shares worth 12.7 trillion won. There were 673 gainers and 194 decliners.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks opened lower on Friday, staged a mild recovery in the afternoon but saw the losses accelerate going into the close.

The Dow tumbled 915.39 points or 4.06 percent to finish at 21,636.78, while the NASDAQ sank 295.16 points or 3.79 percent to 7,502.38 and the S&P 500 lost 88.60 points or 3.37 percent to 2,541.47. For the week, the Dow added 12.8 percent, the NASDAQ gained 9.1 percent and the S&P rose 10.3 percent.

The recovery attempt in afternoon trading came after the House passed the massive $2 trillion stimulus bill designed to respond to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Buying interest waned late in the session, however, leading traders to sell stocks once again amid uncertainty going into the weekend.

Lingering concerns about the economic impact of the coronavirus also weighed on the markets, as the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. surpassed the number of cases in China or Italy.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday, losing for a second successive day on worries about the energy demand outlook. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down $1.09 or 4.8 percent at $21.51 a barrel.